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There are many ways you can use your smartphone as a cryptocurrency portfolio builder. For instance, buying and selling cryptocurrencies is common knowledge. But did you know that you can also mine them? And not only is cryptocurrency mining a real thing – you can even mine crypto on your iPhone.
But does it actually work? More importantly, is mining crypto on your smartphone profitable? These are some of the questions we’ll address in this article.
The basics: What is crypto mining?
An extremely difficult computational math problem must be solved in order for mining to take place. But, the next block of crypto coins is awarded to the first computer to find a solution, and the cycle repeats.
You can mine cryptocurrency on your phone with the help of some special software and your phone’s processing capacity.
Benefits of Using an iPhone to Mine Cryptocurrency
Mining cryptocurrency on a smartphone has several advantages over traditional mining:
- Traditional mining requires high-powered equipment such as ASIC miners or GPUs. iPhones, on the other hand, are much cheaper, so they don’t require lots of upfront investment.
- Additionally, iPhones are readily available. Most people already have a smartphone, so no investment in hardware is needed at all!
- The main drawbacks are the device’s high wear and tear, limited opportunities, and the small profit it generates.
Which coin can I mine with my iPhone?
From obscure alt-coins to the big leagues of Bitcoin and Ethereum, there are countless coins you can mine with your iPhone. The only limits are the hardware’s capacity and what the particular software you choose allows you to mine.
Can you mine crypto on iPhone? And, is mining crypto on iOS safe?
The short answer? – Both Android and iOS devices can be used to mine.
Cryptocurrency mining apps had a massive boom in popularity several years ago. This made the process much more common on smartphones as the popularity of cryptocurrencies grew.
The long answer? – To mine using Android and iOS devices, you will have to use roundabout methods that do not directly mine cryptocurrency due to the services’ ban on such apps.
So, yes, while there are about 200 apps available in 2022 that allow you to mine on your smartphone, such software is, a vast majority of the time, nothing more than a shell.
Be careful with these as, aside from generating revenue, these apps may also promote paid services or collect personal information.
In contrast to the Google Play Store, the App Store has a much stricter screening process. In this case, the likelihood of downloading such programs is extremely low, and the mining software associated with cryptocurrencies is immediately removed.
To get around the ban, a growing number of crypto enthusiasts have started creating games on smartphones in which the user mines cryptocurrency by playing. Although this is more for fun than for profit.
Cons of Using an iPhone to Mine Cryptocurrency
Because the iPhone 13, 13 Pro, and 13 Pro Max are currently the best smartphones on the market, it should come as no surprise that these devices are capable of mining crypto, right?
However, using a smartphone to mine cryptocurrency presents a number of difficulties:
- For truly effective mining, high-performance and high-capacity devices are needed to handle the computations required to find a solution and earn a block.
- As iPhones are not plugged into the mains, they need to be constantly charged.
- There is a high likelihood of system failure due to the excessive amount of computing power required by mining.
- The heat generated by the CPU/GPU/ASIC required to do so will significantly shorten the life of your phone, making it unlikely that you will be able to recover the cost of an early replacement due to failure.
Overall, mining cryptocurrencies on an iPhone is more of a learning experience than a way to make lots of profit. However, if you still want to use a smartphone to mine crypto, it has been claimed that Android devices are more profitable.
But, it’s a bad idea on an expensive phone like the iPhone, and in reality, it’s rarely a practical or profitable thing to do, even on the cheapest smartphones.
Because of these disadvantages, most iPhone crypto mining is done in a group (also known as a “pool”) because solo mining is hugely ineffective due to the low power of individual devices.
